The National Commission for Women on Sunday said it would summon Shashi Tharoor for his “derogatory and degrading tweet”, made by the Thiruvananthapuram MP after Manushi Chhillar was crowned Miss World.

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On Sunday, the NCW took to Twitter to issue a statement. “He degraded the achievement of daughter of #haryana and #India who got glory to the country. Will he call his own daughter chillar? He must apologize immediately.”

In another tweet, the commission said it will summon Tharoor for his “his derogatory and degrading tweet on our pride @ManushiChhillar She got fame and name to country by winning #MissWorld crown.”

NCW member Rekha Sharma holds the additional charge as the acting NCW Chief as the seat fell vacant over a month ago with the end of term of former chairperson Lalitha Kumaramangalam. NCW sources said official tweets are issued at the behest of Sharma. The summons of the commission, however, are not binding.

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Hours after Manushi Chhillar was declared the winner of the Miss World contest on Saturday night, Tharoor had punned between Chhillar and chillar, which means small change. He had tweeted “What a mistake to demonetise our currency! BJP should have realised that Indian cash dominates the globe: look, even our Chhillar has become Miss World!”

What a mistake to demonetise our currency! BJP should have realised that Indian cash dominates the globe: look, even our Chhillar has become Miss World!

On Sunday night, Tharoor, whose tweet attracted backlash from many others took to the social media site again to apologise “to the many who seem to have been righteously offended by a light-hearted tweet”. He wrote: “Guess the pun IS the lowest form of humour, & the bilingual pun lower still!”

Pointing to another tweet of his where he has praised Chhillar for her reply to the question posed at the contest, he signed off with a pun again, “Certainly no offence was meant to a bright young girl whose answer I’ve separately praised. Please: Chill!”

Guess the pun IS the lowest form of humour, & the bilingual pun lower still! Apologies to the many who seem to have been righteously offended by a light-hearted tweet today. Certainly no offence was meant to a bright young girl whose answer i’ve separately praised. Please: Chill!

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Haryana Women and Child Development Minister Kavita Jain said Tharoor was “indulging in callous and reckless ‘wordplay’ on Miss World Manushi Chhillar”. She has asked him to apologise and withdraw his comment.

Jain said “Tharoor had only exposed his own debased thinking by questioning the self-respect of our daughters, the pride of the country, and the brave community ‘Chhillar’”.

Haryana Finance Minister Captain Abhimanyu tweeted, “ A shameless comment. deserves to be withdrawn and Shashi must apologise for this ..can’t believe ..he can go so low..”

MoS Jitendra Singh tweeted: “Tweet in haste and regret at liesure” was a dictum I fortunately got to learn in my early days of tweeting. Nevertheless, appreciate Sh @ShashiTharoor’s unassuming humility and magnanimity to regret without standing on prestige.”